Machine for extracting grease from skins



(No Model.)

E. V. WHITAKER & J. HULL.

MACHINE FOR EXTRAGTING GREASE FROM SKINS.

No. 252,559. Patented Jan. 17,1882.

flttorneys i .NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN V. WHITAKER AND JAMES HULL, OF GLOVERSVILLE, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR EXTRACTING GREASE FROM SKINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,559, dated January 17,1882.

Application filed November 8, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWIN V. WHITAKER and JAMESHULL,ofGloversville,in the county of Fulton and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Extracting Grease from Skins; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view, and Fig. 2 is a detail view, of the presseraprons with their rollers.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in both the figures.

This invention has relation to devices or apparatus for extracting the grease and animal oils from skins while in the process of dressing the same.

ltis well known that the presence of grease and animal oils in kid and other skins operates to prevent them from taking a smooth and even color in dyeing. During the operation of dressing the skins they assume a pulpy consistency which is particularly favorable for the extraction of fatty matter and oil eontainedin them bymechanical means; and hence our invention consists in the construction and combination of parts of a machine on which the skins may be treated while in a more or less pulpy state for the extraction of the fatty matter and oil contained in them without injuring them in the least by spreading or dislodging the fiber.

Our machine consists of an iron frame, A, in opposite ends of which are mounted horizontal parallel rollersB B. We prefer to make roller B of wood and B of iron and roller B may be adjusted so as to regulate its distance from B by means of sliding boxes I), operated by screws a.

O is an endless apron corresponding in width to the width of rollers B and B, and supported between said rollers by a series of smaller rollers, c 0, arranged in frame A parallel to one another. This apron, which must be of heavy rubber cloth or other suitable material with a smooth and even surface, is made taut by adjusting the sliding journal-boxes b of the outer roller, B.

In one end of frame A, above roller B, is journaled, in vertically-adjustable boxes (I, another roller, D, which is also made preferably of iron or other metal, turned perfectly true. Its boxes at are vertically adjustable in a vertical slotted extension or standard,A of frame A by means of screws 0, having cranks or handles e at their upper ends for turning them. Each of these screws works in a cross-piece, f, spanning the slot in standard A, which forms a bearing for the upper end of a stout spiral spring, F, the lower end of which bears against its appropriate journal-box (I, so that by work-.

ing the screws 0 the pressure upon the journal-boxes and shaft of roller 1) may be regulated.

Above and to one side of roller D is another (wooden) roller, D, the boxes 9 of which are vertically adjustable in the slotted extension A parallel to A. Journal-boxes g are vertically adjustable, in like manner as the boxes at of roller D, by means of screws h, having handles h; but nosprings are employed in connection with the boxes g and screws h.

E is another endless apron, which connects rollers D and D, and is made of the same material as 0. It is held perfectly taut between said rollers by the vertical adjustment of the upper roiler,D, in the manner described. The

rollers D and B are geared together by intermeshing cog-wheels, and one of them has a large cog-wheel, G, which meshes with a pinion, H, having a crank, H, or a pulley for opcrating it by means of an endless belt, where the machine is not to be run by hand.

The skins are removed from the drench and placed (in the slippery and pulpy condition in which they are at that stage of the dressing process) upon the movable table composed of the endless apron 0, where they are spread out flat, one after another. In this condition they are carried by the apron in between rollersB and D,where they are subjected to a very considerable and perfectly even and steady pressure, which squeezes all the oil and fatty matter outof them. The apronsC and E,which are interposed between the skins and pressurerollers B and D, respectively, prevent mangling of the skins by contact with the rollers,

IOC

so that their grain or texture is in no wise affected, the two aprons serving both as a protection to the surface of the skins and as a means for feeding them between the pressurerollers in their flattened state without the least abrasion of the texture.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent ot' the United States The herein-described machine for removing grease and animal oils from skins while in the process of dressing, composed of the frame A, having slotted standards A and A and a series of rollers, c c, rollers B B, mounted in said frame and carrying the endless apron O,

rollers D and D, mounted respectively in the 

